Namco Museum (series)
Namco Museum is a series of video game compilations originating in 1995, developed and published by Namco (and later, Bandai Namco). They mainly focus on rereleasing classic Namco arcade titles (with a few brand-new games and console games in between), many of which are from the Pac-Man series. Installments PlayStation series Namco Museum originated on the PlayStation in the form of five volumes. Each volume has a letter on its front case, and spells out "NAMCO" when all five are lined up. An "encore" volume was also released exclusively in Japan, but it does not have any Pac-Man games. The original five PS1 games feature many extra content, and are navigated like a true "museum". Future installments (including Namco Museum Encore) dropped the museum content entirely, instead solely focusing on the included games. Each game also features a 3D animated intro, where Pac-Man travels throughout the different included games' locations. 'Volume 1' Released on November 22, 1995. Features seven games: * Pac-Man (1980) * Rally-X (1980) * Bosconian (1981) * Galaga (1981) * New Rally-X (1981) * Pole Position (1982) * Toypop (1986) 'Volume 2' Released on February 9, 1996. The following games appear across all regions: * Xevious (1982) * Mappy (1983) * Gaplus (1984) * Grobda (1984) * Dragon Buster (1985) The original Japanese version includes Cutie Q (1979); in other regions, it was replaced with [[Super Pac-Man|''Super Pac-Man]] (1982). The Japan release also included 'Bomb Bee' (1979) as a bonus game; just like Cutie Q, it cannot be played in the English release. 'Volume 3' Released on June 21, 1996. Includes six games: * [[Ms. Pac-Man (game)|Ms. Pac-Man]] (1982) * 'Galaxian' (1979) * 'Dig Dug' (1982) * 'Phozon' (1983) * 'Pole Position II' (1983) * 'The Tower of Druaga' (1984) There are two hidden games in this compilation - 'The Tower of Druaga: Another Tower' and 'The Tower of Druaga: Darkness Tower. Both were seemingly created solely for Volume 3. '''Volume 4 Released on November 8, 1996. Features five games: * Pac-Land (1984) * The Return of Ishtar (1986) * The Genji and the Heike Clans'' (1986) * ''Assault (1988) * Ordyne (1988) Assault Plus (1988) is also a hidden game. 'Volume 5' Released on February 28, 1997. Includes five games: * [[Pac-Mania|''Pac-Mania]] (1987) * 'Baraduke' (1985) * 'Metro-Cross' (1985) * 'Dragon Spirit' (1987) * 'Legend of the Valkyrie' (1989) 'Encore' Released exclusively in Japan on October 30, 1997. Features seven games: * 'King & Balloon' (1980) * 'Motos' (1985) * 'Sky Kid' (1985) * 'Rolling Thunder' (1986) * 'Wonder Momo' (1987) * 'Rompers' (1989) * 'Dragon Saber' (1990) While no Pac-Man games are included, both him and Ms. Pac-Man still appear in the opening intro. This volume reportedly has problems when played on a PS2 or PS3. 'PSP series' A rather confusing series - two small volumes were released in Japan and Korea, while one giant volume was released in North America and Europe. Features many "arranged" versions of games; these are not the same as the identically-titled Arrangement games seen in the ''Namco Classic Collection series (and in some of the Mass Media-developed Namco Museums). 'Namco Museum 1' Released in Japan and Korea on February 24, 2005. Arranged games include: * [[Pac-Man Arrangement (2005)|''Pac-Man Arrangement]] * 'Dig Dug Arrangement' * 'Galaga Arrangement' * 'New Rally-X Arrangement' And the classic games are: * 'Pac-Man' (1980) * 'Galaxian' (1979) * 'Rally-X' (1980) * 'Galaga' (1981) * 'New Rally-X' (1981) * 'Dig Dug' (1982) 'Ms. Pac-Man' (1982) is also included in the Japanese version, but not the Korean version. 'Namco Museum 2' Released in Japan and Korea on February 23, 2006. Arranged games include: * [[Pac-Man Arrangement (2005)|Pac-Man Arrangement +]] * 'Motos Arrangement' And the classic games are: * 'King & Balloon' (1980) * 'Bosconian' (1981) * 'Xevious' (1982) * 'Mappy' (1983) * 'The Tower of Druaga' (1984) * 'Grobda' (1984) * 'Dig Dug II' (1985) * 'Dragon Buster' (1985) * 'Motos' (1985) * 'Rolling Thunder' (1986) * 'Dragon Spirit' (1987) 'Namco Museum Battle Collection' The American and European release of the game. Released on August 23, 2005 (in between the other two), it has all games from the Japanese/Korean volumes combined, minus ''Pac-Man Arrangement +, Motos Arrangement, and Dragon Spirit. Wii series Main article: Namco Museum Remix The Wii featured a rather unique Namco Museum installment titled Namco Museum Remix, which mainly focuses on new games rather than old ones. A slightly modified version called Namco Museum Megamix was released afterward. 'Remix' Released on October 23, 2007. Remixed games include: * ''Pac 'n Roll Remix'' * ''Pac-Motos'' * Rally-X Remix * Galaga Remix * Gator Panic Remix And the classic games are: * [[Super Pac-Man|''Super Pac-Man]] (1982) * [[Pac & Pal|Pac & Pal]] (1983) * [[Pac-Mania|Pac-Mania]] (1987) * 'Cutie Q' (1979) * 'Galaxian' (1979) * 'Dig Dug' (1982) * 'Mappy' (1983) * 'Xevious' (1983) * 'Gaplus' (1984) 'Megamix' Released exclusively in North America on November 16, 2010. Includes all games from Remix, in addition to the new 'Grobda Remix' and the following arcade games: * [[Pac-Man (game)|Pac-Man]] (1980) * 'King & Balloon' (1980) * 'Rally-X' (1980) * 'Bosconian' (1981) * 'Galaga' (1981) * 'New Rally-X' (1981) * 'Grobda' (1984) * 'Dig Dug II' (1985) * 'Motos' (1985) 'Pac-Man Museum' ''Main article: Pac-Man Museum A solely Pac-Man-focused compilation, released on February 26, 2014 for Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and PC. Nintendo 3DS and Wii U ports were planned but cancelled. It features nine games: * Pac-Man (1980) * [[Super Pac-Man|''Super Pac-Man]] (1982) * [[Pac & Pal|Pac & Pal]] (1983) * [[Pac-Land|Pac-Land]] (1984) * [[Pac-Mania|Pac-Mania]] (1987) * [[Pac-Attack|Pac-Attack]] (1993) * [[Pac-Man Arrangement (2005)|Pac-Man Arrangement]] (2005 - PSP version) * [[Pac-Man Championship Edition|Pac-Man Championship Edition]] (2007) * [[Pac-Man Battle Royale|Pac-Man Battle Royale]] (2010) 'Ms. Pac-Man' (1982) was released as downloadable content; it was free until March 31, 2014, but is now a $4.99 in-game purchase. 'Other Namco Museums' * 'Namco Museum 64' (1999) (Nintendo 64) - Features six games. * 'Namco Museum' (2000) (Dreamcast) - Near-identical to ''Namco Museum 64, except for adding a bonus VMU game (''PACit''). * Namco Museum (2001) (Game Boy Advance) - Features five games. * Namco Museum (2002) (PlayStation 2, GameCube, Xbox) - Features twelve games, including one console game (''Pac-Attack'') and several Arrangement games from Namco Classic Collection Vol. 1 & 2'' (including ''Pac-Man Arrangement). * Namco Museum 50th Anniversary (2005) (PlayStation 2, GameCube, Xbox, PC) - Features 14 games. * Namco Museum 50th Anniversary (2005) (Game Boy Advance) - Features five games. * Namco Museum DS (2007) (Nintendo DS) - Includes a unique version of [[Pac-Man Vs.|''Pac-Man Vs.]] not found elsewhere, in addition to seven arcade games. * 'Namco Museum Virtual Arcade' (2008) (Xbox 360) - Includes 25 games, a mixture of arcade and PSP-arranged versions. Additionally there are 9 Xbox Live games, which cannot be accessed without an Xbox Live paid subscription (a highly criticized feature of this volume). * 'Namco Museum Essentials' (2009) (PlayStation 3) - Download-only title. Includes six games, one of which (''Xevious Resurrection) was brand-new. It was removed from the PlayStation Store in 2018 for unknown reasons. * Namco Museum (2017) (Nintendo Switch) - Features eleven games, including yet another unique Pac-Man Vs. port. * Namco Museum Arcade Pac (2018) (Nintendo Switch) - Same as the above game, but with ''Pac-Man Championship Edition 2 Plus'' included as well. * Namco Museum Mini Player (201?) - Tabletop arcade machine with 20 games, as part of My Arcade's "Micro Player" line of handhelds. Seems to have been delayed and/or cancelled. * Namco Museum Collection 1 (20xx) - Upcoming release for the Evercade handheld console. * Namco Museum Collection 2 (20xx) - Upcoming release for the Evercade handheld console. Related compilations * Pac-Man Collection * Plug 'N Play TV Games Category:Compilations Category:Games Category:Namco Games Category:Console Games